Blog

With sunrise coming around 7am throughout these early November days it makes getting out in time for it a little less punishing than 4am summer starts!

That said, this assumes you're not travelling too far because ideally you have to be set-up in location by 6.30am at the latest. This assumes you know where you want to be stood and even where you're parking, how long the walk to the destination is etc. So, it pays to have thought through all of that before you commit to putting the alarm on for a 5-5.30am wake up!

In my mind it's best to go local, and I've featured Verulamium Park earlier in the Project 32 series, in fact it was No.1 that I started with back on January 18th 2014 (my birthday). That was shot at Sunset from one end of the large lake that sits in the Park, I'd always wondered about the view from the other end at sunrise...

I arrived in good time to set-up at the lakeside, I'd already got a good idea of where I needed to be so went straight to the location. It was a pretty sharp morning with a little cold bite in the air, so there as plenty of hopping up and down on my part to keep warm.

After spending 30-45 mins in this position I came to the conclusion that (a) I wasn't getting a huge splash of sunrise colour this particular morning and (b) I wasn't even convinced there was a decent enough composition from my position. So, feeling slightly nippy I decided to call it a day and head home for Breakfast #2. I jumped in the car and set-off, however the road to get home flanks the other side of the park and as I was driving I turned to see a wonderful (and hidden from my previous position) mist rising through the park and the sun gently kissing the still frosty ground. I managed to park up and bolted over the fence into the park, the famous Abbey of St Albans was shrouded in the mist and the autumnal colours of the leaves were accented nicely by the warmth of the early morning sun.

I tweeted a picture from my iPhone of this scene and it was picked up by a local Hertfordshire website who wanted to use it on their front page...fame at last! Well, sort of...I did pick up a few new Twitter followers, if not a cheque! See website front page below: